Railway-tie.



R. A. SUMMERS.

RAILWAY TIE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 10. 1914.

1 1 5 1 ,062. Patented Aug. 24, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

R. A SUMMERS.

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APPLICAT 0, l9l4- 1,15 1,82. Patented Aug. 24, 1915. 2 EEEEE S- EEEEE Z-are- RAILWAY-TIE.

and thoroughly efficient in operation, and

which will be so constructed as to be possessed of the resilientqualities found in the ordinary wooden tie to thus support the rails inlike manner.

The invention has as a further object to provide a metallic railway tiewherein the ends of the tie in use, will be capable of free verticalmovement to thus give under a heavy load and wherein resilient meanswill be employed for holding the ends of the tie in normal position, thesaid means coacting to maintain the rails in engagement with the tie,and being disposed to absorb the, shock of aload passing over the tie.

A further object of the invention is .to provide a metallic railway tieof substantially skeleton construction and wherein the resilient meansemployed for maintaining the ends of the tie in normal position willform a closure for the tie at its upper side and will be arranged tofulcrum upon the tie in such manner as to normally hold the meansprovided for connecting the rails with the tie in engagement with therails.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a tie of thischaracter wherein a single resilient means will be employed formaintaining the rails in engagement with the tie and for absorbing theshock of a load passing over the tie. And the invention has as a stillfurther object-to provide a tie of this character which will be simplein construction, which may be easily placed in position within theroad-bed, and which will be provided with means for engagement with therails of such character that the use of spikes or other similar typeoffastening devices may be dispensed with.

With these and other objects in view my Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 2a, 1915.

Application filed November 10, 1914. Serial No. 871,310.

invention will be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings and then specifically pointed out in the claims which areattached to and form a part of this application.

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 is a perspective view of myimproved tie showing the rails operatively connected therewith, the saidrails being broken away, Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view takenthrough the tie and particularly illustrating the peculiar formation ofthe rail chairs carried by the tie as well as the clamping platesemployed for connecting the rails with the tie, the rails being shown insection, Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 33 ofFig. 2, the portion of the rail shown being broken away, this viewparticularly illustrating the manner in which the clamping platesengaging the rail engage around the rail chairs of the tie, Fig. 4; is aperspective view showing the seve'ral parts of the tie detached but inproper operative position, and Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional viewshowing the manner in which the sections of the tie are hingedlyconnected with each other.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of. the drawings by the samereference characters.

The body portion of my improved tie indicated at 10 in the drawings, ispreferably formed of suitable metal and in order that the said tie maybe relatively light, it is of skeleton or channeled construction, thesaid tie including a bottom wall 11 and side walls 12 which extend atsubstantially right angles to the bottom.

As best shown in Fig. & of the drawings, the body portion 10 of the tieis formed of hingedly connected sections 1?) and 1%,. each of saidsections, at its outer end, being laterally enlarged as at 15 to providea tread. Preferably, the tread 15 of each of said sections is providedwith an outer concave face 16 as best shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings,this construction facilitating. the engagement of the tie with theroad-bed.

Formed within the sections1'3 and 14 at the inner extremities thereofand upon opposite sides of the said sections, are vertically arrangedshoulders 17 and 18, each of said shoulders extending medially of theadjacent section transversely thereof and being provided with a flat endwall 19, the flat end walls of said shoulders confronting each otherwhen the sections are operatively connected together asillustrated inFigs. 3 and 5 of the drawings.

The upper ends of the shoulders 17 and 18 terminate in spaced relationto the upper edges of the side walls 12 of the sections 13 and 14 andare preferably rounded in cross-section as shown at 20, this being for areason which will presently appear. Formed on the end wall 19 of theshoulder 18 adjacent the base of the said shoulder, is a laterallyextending stud 21 which is disposed to engage within a suitable aperture22 formedin the end wall of the shoulder 17 In this manner, the sections13 and 14 are hingedly and detachably connected together and in order toprevent dirt or other foreign matter from gaining entrance within thetie, the bottom wall 11 of each of the sections adjacent the shoulders17 and 18, is provided with a laterallyextending flange 23 disposed tooverlap the adjacent portion of the bottom wall of the opposite sectionwhile oppositely disposed side walls 12 of the said sections, at theirinner extremities are each provided with a similar flange 24 disposed toreceive the adjacent terminal of the corresponding side wall of theopposite section.

From the above description, it will be seen that the body portion of myimproved tie is relatively light in construction, this being a verydesirable feature in a tie of this character, since the said tie maythus be readily transported for use and it will be observed that wheninitially placing the tie within the road-bed, the sections thereof maybe detached to be inserted beneath the rails from opposite sides of theroad-bed and thence connected by inserting the stud 21 within theaperture 22. Consequently, in the construction which I provide, I gain,in thus being able to place the tie within the road-bed, an advantageover the ordinary wooden tie and shall now proceed to describe theconstruction whereby I attain, in my improved tie, the resilient qualitydisposed to cushion the load upon the tie, possessed by the ordinarywooden tie. However, before proceeding with such description, it may bestated that in order that snow or water may be prevented from standingwithin the tie, the upper faces of the bottom walls 11 of the sections13 and 14 are preferably inclined toward the outer ends of the saidsections as best shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, so that moisture willdrain from within the tie. v

Extending transversely above the treads .15 and supported by thesidewalls 12 are chairs 25, the said chairs being integrally formed with theside walls while the said 2 rails 28 are disposed to seat upon theupper.

flat faces 27 of the chairs 25 and are engaged by the shoulders 26. IEmbracing the chairs 25 and engaging the base flanges of the rails 28,are coacting clamping plates 30 and 31, the said plates being shown indetail in Fig. 4 of the drawings. More particularly, the plates 30 areeach formed from apiece of suitable resilient metal and includeoutwardly diverging and longitudinally extending flanges and 33, theflange 33 be ing preferably wider than the flange 32. As best shown inFig. 2 of the drawings, the flange 32 of each of said plates is disposedto engage over the adjacent side of the base flange of one of the rails28 with the flange 33 embracing the adjacent chair 25 and disposedwithin the seat 29 thereof. The clamping members 31 are also eachpreferably formed from a suitable piece of resilient metal and each ofsaid members at one extremity thereof, is provided with a terminallongitudinally extending flange 34 disposed to engage over the baseflange of the adjacent rail upon the outer side thereof and extendingfrom the said flange is a resilient longitudinally curved arm 35 whichfits around the curved face 28 of the adjacent chair to extend over andengage the flange 33 of the adjacent clamping plate 30, it beingobserved upon reference to Fig. 2 of the drawings, that the flanges 33of the plates 30 are transversely curved to conform to the curvature ofthe adjacent walls of the seats 29 as well as the curvature of the arms35 so that the said arms will bear against the said flanges throughouttheir entire length.

The arms 35 of the members 31 are preferably of such length as to extendat the adjacent extremities thereof above the up per edges of the sidewalls 12 of the tie and terminate in longitudinally extending andlaterally disposed hooks or flanges 36, the free extremities of whichare arranged to project downwardly toward the tie. Engaging the saidhooks is a combined locking and closure member 37 The closure plate 37is preferably formed from a single piece of relatively heavy resilientmetal, and, as

shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, is longitudinally bowed. Formed on themember 37 at the extremities thereof, are transversely extending hooksor seats 38 which are disposed to receive the free terminals of thehooks 36, the member 37 being of a length to extend between the saidhooks-and being of a width to fit snugly between the side walls 12 ofthe tie to close the tie upon the upper side thereof.

In assembling the several parts of the tie, the sections 13 and 14;thereof, are oper atively connected in the manner heretofore describedand the clamping members 30 are then arranged in position for engagementwith the rails 28 as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. One of theclamping members 31 is then applied in the manner heretofore explained,and the terminal hook 36 thereof is engaged with the adjacent extremityof the member 37, it being observed that the said member is disposed tofulcrum substantially midway its ends upon'the shoulders 17 and 18 whichare accordingly provided with curved faces 20. The free eX- tremity ofthe member 37 is then bent downwardly between the side walls of the tieand the opposite clamping member 31 is then engaged with the adjacentrail and the arm 35 thereof is inserted between the adjacent end of themember 37 and the contiguous member 30, whence the hook 36 of the saidarm is then engaged with the adjacent seat 38 of the said member. Itwill be observed that when thus in position, the member 37 will be heldsubstantially straight, the resilient action of the said member normallytending to force the arms 35 of the members 31 upwardly into engagementwith the curved faces of the chairs 25 and with the flanges 33 of themembers 30. As will be obvious, such action of the member. 37 will causethe flanges 32 and 34 of the members 30 and 31 to firmly engage the baseflanges of the rails28 to thus securely clamp the rails to the tie.

Attention is now called to the fact that a load passing over the rails28 would tend to force the extremities of the tie clownwardly againstthe road-bed and owing to the fact that the sections 13 and 14 of thetie are hingedly connected, consequent vertical movement of the tie willbe permitted. However, it is to be noted that the member 37 is disposedto normally maintain the sections of the tie in alinement or in properhorizontal position and any load upon the rails 28 tending to depressthe extremities of the tie will be communicated directly to the saidmember which by its resilient action, will cushion the impact of thesaid load.

The tension of course, be determined upon experiment but since theresilient action of the tie in cushthe member I can, of

ioning the load is entirely dependent upon the said member, it ispreferable that the member be relatively heavy so as to normally exert aconsiderable tension upon the clamping members 31. It is to be notedthat in the provision of the clamping members 30 and 31 that thenecessity of spikes or other similar type of fastening devices isobviated. At the points where the meeting ends of the contiguous rails28 occur, the said meeting ends may be arranged medially of the chairs25 to be thus held in position by the members 30 and 31, thus obviatingthe necessity of fish plates.

It will thus be seen that I provide a metallic. tie which will berelatively light in construction but which will through the provision ofthe member 37, which is disposed to coact with the hingedly connectedsections 13 and 14 of the tie, be possessed of the resilient qualitiesin cushioning the load, found in the ordinary wooden tie. It willfurther be seen that in the provision of the member 37, the sections ofthe tie will be resiliently held in normal position while the saidmembers will also coact with the clamping members 30 and 31 to maintainthe rails firmly seated upon the tie.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of theinvention, still, it will be readily understood that the constructiondisclosed could readily be formed from suitable sheet metal without, inthe slightest, departing from the spirit thereof as defined in theappended claims. For instance, the bottom wall 11 of the tie could beformed with reversely arranged and longitudinally extending tongues attheir confronting extremities. One of the said tongues could then berolled upon itself to receive the pivot pin 21 which could also beformed of suitable sheet metal, while the opposite tongue could besimilarly rolled to loosely receive the free extremity of the pivot pin.In thus rolling the tongues and providing a sheet metal pivot pin of arelatively large diameter, it will be clear that the rolled portions ofthe tongues will provide shoulders similar to the shoulders 17 and 18.Further, the chairs 25 could each be formed from a length of suitablesheet metal provided at its extremities with reduced flanges or lugsdisposed to engage over the side walls of the body of the tie, theintermediate portions of the piece of metal forming the chair beingrolled inwardly to provide the curved lower face 28 and the seat 29.

l/Vhile I have shown the clamps 31 as be ing each provided with aterminal hook or flange 36, still, the said clamps may be formed with aterminal flange or lip ex tending at substantially right angles tomember 37 in which event, the terminal hooks formed on the said memberwould be eliminated. 5

Having thus described my invention,

what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A railway tieincluding a body portion having its ends disposed for movement in avertical plane, rail clamping members operatively engaging the tie, anda locking member engaging said clamping members and having itsextremities disposed for movement in a vertical plane, rail clampingmembers operatively engaging the tie, and a locking member fulcrumingupon the tie and engaging said clamping members, said locking memberbeing disposed to normally maintain the extremities of the tie in normalposition.

4. A railway tie including a body portion open upon one side and havingits extremities disposed for movement in a vertical plane, rail clampingmembers operatively engaging the tie, and a combined closure and lockingplate fitting within the open side of the tie and engaging said clampingmembers, said plate being disposed to normally maintain the extremitiesof the tie in normal position.

, 5. A railway tie including a body portion formed of hingedly connectedsections and provided with a shoulder, rail clamping members operativelyengaging the tie, and a locking member seating upon said shoulder andengaging said clamping members, said locking member being disposed'tonormally maintain the extremities of the tie in normal position.

6. A railway tie including a body'portion formed in sections, one ofsaid sections having a stud formed thereon disposed to engage within asuitable recess provided in the opposite section whereby to hingedlyconnect the said sections, each of said sections having a shoulderformed thereon, railv clamping members operatively engaging the tie, anda resilient locking member seating.

upon said shoulders and engaging said Copies of this patent may beobtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of ratents,

clamping members, said locking member being disposed to normallymaintain the extremities of the tie in normal position.

7 A railway tie including a body portion having its extremities disposedfor movement in a vertical plane, coacting rail clamping membersarranged in pairs and operatively engaging the tie, one member of eachpair being disposed to urge the, other" 8. A railway tie including abody portion 7 having its extremities disposed for movement in avertlcal plane, coactlng ra1l clamping members operatively engaging thew tie, and a locking member engaging said clamping members and disposedto nor- I mally maintain the extremities of the'tie in normal position.

9. A railway tie including a body portion having its extremitiesdisposed for movement in a vertical plane, said body portion beingprovided with rail chairs having seats formed therein, coacting clampingmembers arranged in pairs and operatively engaging sald chalrs, oneclamping member of each pair being disposed within the seat of theadjacent chair, and the other clamping member of each of said pairsbeing arranged to embrace the adjacent chair to operatively engage thesaid first mentioned clamping member coacting therewith for urging saidfirst mentioned member into operative position, and alocking memberengaging the said last mentioned clamping members of each pair anddisposed to normally maintain the extremities of the tie in normalposition. I

10. A railway tie including a body portion having its extremitiesdisposed for movement in a vertical plane, the said body portion beingprovided with rail. chairs, resilient coacting rail clamping membersembracing the said chairs, and a resilient locking member detachably andoperatively engaging said clamping members, said looking member beingdisposed to normally maintain the extremities of the tie in normalposition. I

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

Witnessesfiy M. E. GRoeAN, J. R. EAGLIN.

Washington, D. 0.

